Michael Vardon on why urban forests keep losing the argument — and how a bit of accounting could change the odds. And he begins by looking at the loss of a much loved 80-year-old raintree in Cairns.
environment
A long time between drinks!
This is just a quick note to say that Sustainability Bites has been quiet now for several months. But that will change soon.
We’re still not measuring our reliance on nature as we rush to boost productivity
Human economies are made possible through natural capital – stocks of land, fresh water, oceans, biodiversity and soils, among others. Farming isn’t possible without soil or water. Manufacturing isn’t possible without raw materials to convert into products. Service industries aren’t possible without reliable food. This may seem like stating the obvious. But what’s obvious isn’t always acted upon. At last week’s high-profile Economic Reform Roundtable, natural capital was conspicuously absent. At the table were bankers, unionists, housing experts and business groups – but only one environmental advocate, former treasury secretary Ken Henry. The government’s goals were to make the economy more productive and resilient and the budget more sustainable. The health of our natural capital underpins all of these.
Why Western economies, underpinned by the concept of scarcity, will fail to make significant environmental change for the environment
The catalyst for this article was the question I posed in a recent blog post on Sustainabity Bites (What’s your theory of change?). Dr Jennifer Andrew is a social scientist, writer, environmental educator and editor, and long-time friend of Sustainability Bites. If you have your own ideas on what brings about (or blocks) change, please consider putting down your thoughts ‘on paper’ and sending them to me.
For ‘peats’ sake, can we please get serious about protecting our peatlands
Wetlands are under threat all around the world but there’s one particular type of wetland that provides a disproportionate ecosystem service in the form of carbon storage that is in dire need of increased protection. We’re talking peatlands, and new research is suggesting it’s way past time we got serious about looking after them.
The need for speed: can we buy faster environmental approvals to enable Australia to become a clean energy superpower?
Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment, without diluting environment has now become a national priority. What was once a problem of red tape and substandard practice, is now central to the clean energy revolution and vital to our collective future. Throwing money at the problem won’t solve it. Even more data and regulatory guidance won’t solve it, though of course it will make inroads. Solving the problem completely, achieving complete regulatory efficiency and removing a major bottleneck to Australia’s transition to a carbon-neutral economy, will take something out of the box. Maybe we should look at how the courts now do case management.
“Measuring What Matters”: With the first results in, what next?
The first version of Australia’s national wellbeing framework “Measuring What Matters” has been released. The basic idea of the report is to shift from our narrow focus on key economic indicators, such as GDP and inflation, to embrace a wider suite of indicators that measure our overall quality of life. In the environment theme, six areas are covered: (urban) air quality; biodiversity; climate resilience; emissions reduction; protected areas; and resource use and waste generation. The headline result has to be that the threatened species index, which tracks the abundance of a selection of threatened species, shows a decline of 55% from a 1985 baseline to 2019, a period of just 34 years. This is a shocking number.
Has time been called on the native forest logging deals of the 1990s? Here’s what the Albanese government can do
It seems time is being called on the forest settlement of the 1990s. These developments are already destabilising the federal government’s environmental law reform agenda, and could even derail it. The government could use the time between now and next year’s Senate debate on its reform package to work up a new approach. It could be built around forest restoration, conservation and Indigenous empowerment, as experts are proposing. If it doesn’t, we are headed for quite a stoush.
Much activity but difficult to tell if it will make a difference: Senate Budget Estimates 2023
The Senate has just wrapped up its Budget Estimates hearings. The good news is that most of the ‘substance’ relates to increased activity. The recent years of inactivity on the environment are clearly over. The bad news is that it will take a long time to generate fresh momentum.
Get the basics right for National Environmental Standards to ensure truly sustainable development
Australia’s environment minister faces some tough calls in developing national environmental standards. If strong and clear, they will protect nature and make it harder to get developments approved. But if the standards lack a clear statement of purpose and carry over rubbery phrases and weak offset requirements, then it will be business as usual, freshly wrapped.
From moonlight jewels to common browns: what do butterfly accounts say about biodiversity conservation?
Biodiversity is important and butterflies are beautiful. But Australia’s biodiversity is in steep decline. Maybe environmental accounts can help here, and butterflies are a great example demonstrating how.
New ‘Big Agenda’ for Nature faces many hurdles
The Albanese Government’s ‘Nature Positive Plan’ announced last week is a much-anticipated response to Professor Graeme Samuel’s 2020 Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The plan is packed with policy announcements, most of which stick close to Samuel’s recommendations. But the path of this big agenda stretches far over the political horizon and is littered with hurdles. Here are ten hurdles the minister will have to jump, just for starters.
The fifth and final transformation: Restoring trust in decision-making
One of the main findings of the Samuel Review of the EPBC Act was that it was not trusted, either by business nor by the wider community. Restoring trust requires a fundamental shift from process-based decision-making to outcome-based decisions. This requires standards supported by regional plans and stronger institutions, including information systems and compliance regimes. At the end of the day, people will only trust environmental laws that truly protect and conserve the environment.
Laying new foundations for environmental decisions: the fourth transformation
The consequences of Australia’s long-term underfunding of our national environmental law, compounded in some cases by lack of political vision or will, are that many of the foundations of the current system of environmental protection and conservation provided for by the EPBC Act are either significantly under-done, or not done at all.
It’s ‘business as usual’, but at least there actually is plenty of business
Australia’s environment department has been run down over the past decade. This month’s Estimate hearings reveals that the new Labor Government is putting extra resources towards environmental management. What does that mean? In terms of Indigenous heritage protection it’s a rare example of good news in the environment portfolio. In terms of biodiversity, the new government has made a small down payment, but on a veritable mountain of environmental debt.
Simplicity harmony and the third transformation
Proposals for regulatory streamlining, and for the alignment of federal and state environmental assessment laws have been floated at various times over the last 30 years. Graeme Samuel’s review recommended a harmonising of both environmental processes and outcomes between federal and state jurisdictions. To do this we need to: Develop national standards; build a risk-based decision-making system; accredit states to take most of the decisions.